//------------------------------//
// The Assassins 
// Story: Darth Edris 
// by AntiBronyBenSwolo 
//------------------------------//

It was a dark night outside the deserts beyond Equestria. A couple of scavenging vultures were camping out in the sand by the bright warm fire as they examined their loot. However, their peace and quiet would come to an end as a dark shadow swept over the sands and extinguished their fire, bringing their attention to a bright magenta flash of light, and the two mysterious alicorns that appeared from it. The vultures gasped in awe and terror as their eyes were fixated on the mares.

“Why are we stopping here? Where are we even?” Twilight asked as her fellow alicorn wished to show her something.

“We are in the desert outside of Equestria. You walked these very sands to escape the Storm King, remember?” Darth Edris explained as her eyes scoured the sands, looking for something.

“I’m pretty sure everypony remembers the Storm King. It’s kind of hard to forget trekking the desert to escape,” Twilight countered.

“No, I mean we are standing on the very path you and your henchponies took to escape. And not by coincidence,” Edris traversed as she noticed the Vulture scavengers looking on at the two.

“Uh...hey ladies. Might we interest...you with some...junk?” The Vultures asked, shivering as if they were looking at a ghost of some kind. Edris scoffed as she raised a hoof at them.

“No. I don’t think I will,” Darth Edris responded as she hoisted the Vultures up high in the air, choking their windpipes telekinetically.

“What are you doing? Put them down! They have nothing to do with this!” Twilight protested in horror as Edris pushed Twilight aside to continue her torture on the scavengers.

“I can’t risk eyewitnesses, Twilight. They’ll endanger our whole mission!” Edris argued as Twilight got up from the sand.

“Your whole mission. You only roped me into it,” Twilight argued as Darth Edris snarled from under her breath.

“And you became a part of my mission the moment you became a princess. Never forget you’ve always been my pawn,” Darth Edris said, forcing Twilight to stand down. As she turned her attention away from Twilight and toward the Vultures, who stared down at Edris in horror as they held onto their choking throats, Edris’ horn lit up as a small black hole formed in between the two of them, sucking up their camp and the nearby sands as the Vultures could barely fit inside the tiny portal until it warped their bodies beyond recognition and sucked them out of existence, much to Twilight’s horror.

“Now, where were we?” Darth Edris asked nonchalantly, disgusting and angering Twilight greatly. But after remembering what Edris did to her, to Discord, and now to those innocent lives, she forced herself to back down, not wanting to risk her wrath any further. Meanwhile, Edris brushed her hoof against the sand a couple of times until she found a stone button with a symbol. Edris smiled sinisterly as she pressed down on the button hard, shaking the sand below, opening up a large sandstone staircase into a large set of catacombs.

“Now where was this when I was running for my life?” Twilight asked as she followed Edris down the stairs.

“It was always right here, hidden beneath the sands. The only reason you didn’t notice it is because you had no reason to notice it, like with all of my handiworks. Honestly, I’m surprised your friend, Fluttershy, hadn’t noticed anything,” Darth Edris explained as Twilight’s ear perked up. The catacombs were very dark, decorated in mysterious runes and hieroglyphics telling tales of battles from the Sith Lords of old, only lit up by dimly lit orange torches and the much brighter purple light from Darth Edris’ horn.

“I...don’t recall Fluttershy having anything to do with this,” Twilight commented as the two alicorns came across tons of lit torches lighting the dark hallways.

“For somepony guilty of craving your friend’s power, you sure did sleep on them,” Edris mocked, further confusing Twilight.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Twilight asked as the ponies paused their trek down the dark catacombs.

“As I’ve said before, all beings crave power in different forms. The power you crave comes in the form of your friends. The power your friend, Fluttershy, craves, is something much stronger that can tear your friendship apart. If Fluttershy gains control over this power, she may become strong enough to tear your empire of friendship down with a wave of her hoof,” Edris explained as Twilight could not bear what she was hearing.

“You’re…you’re lying. You have to be! Fluttershy would never keep something like this from us!” Twilight cried out in denial.

“Shows how much you truly know, even with me around,” Edris remarked, hurting Twilight further. Darth Edris let out a little sigh as Twilight’s denial and mistrust began swelling in her as the Sith Lord conjured an amethyst mist from her horn.

“Here. If you do not take my word for it, perhaps some more proof,” Edris said as the mist formed a window for Twilight to peer through. In the window, she could see Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash by her side as they ran into Starswirl the Bearded. Fluttershy appeared to be in a hurry and headed to Canterlot Palace, but was redirected, almost motivated to leave, by whatever it was Starswirl had to offer her.

“What? What is this?” Twilight asked. Darth Edris turned to keep Twilight walking down those dark, damp catacombs.

“It’s the truth that I’m trying to tell you. All beings, weak or strong, are motivated by power. And Fluttershy left you to gain it,” Darth Edris explained. Twilight tried to find a way to fight back.

“She had to be lying! She just simply had to!” Twilight thought to herself. But after learning everything Darth Edris showed her, there was simply no way of proving that to be the case. As the two alicorns marched down the dimly lit secret hallways, Darth Edris diminished her light as the two entered a giant chamber, built to be an arena of sorts, carved entirely out of stone, and lit by much brighter torches and the red blades of lightsabers carried by servants of Darth Edris and the Dark Side. The arena was filled with warriors of all kinds of species clad in various black robes and armors and dueled each other with their fiery red lightsaber blades, each of them vowing to become the superior warrior.

“Ah, Master. You’ve returned,” A dark side hippogriff remarked in an almost cowering voice but mashed by a sense of pride and loyalty, bowing before Darth Edris’ presence. The hippogriff had a darkened brown coat, a teal mane resembling a crashing tidal wave of water with a matching beard surrounding his beak, and a scar across his right cheek. Though it was hard for Twilight to tell under his black, teal, and golden robes.

“Ah, good to see you again King Merica. Gather your best assassin. I have a mission for them,” Darth Edris ordered as the dark sider bowed before his master once more before heading out to his task. Darth Edris led Twilight aside, who was astonished to see the giant stone behemoth of an arena sitting below the hooves of everyone on the surface without anyone even noticing. The two ponies entered a small chamber sitting far off to the left of the dangerous arena. The chamber only has a table sitting in the middle with cushioned seats surrounding it. Edris took a seat at the front of the table while Twilight sat by her right.

“Ah, yer highness. I be t’ glad I get th’ chance to bask in yer beauty once more,” a vile creature greeted himself bowing before Darth Edris as he entered the room, much to the disgust of Twilight. The creature has the appearance of a pig with dark blue skin, messy pale hair, rotting yellow teeth, bulging green eyes, a horrid mess of feathers for wings, and dressed in torn rags that could resemble clothes topped with a sailor’s tricorn hat.

“A pleasure to meet you again, Wart Hawk. Twilight, this is Wart Hawk. He’s been my loyal eyes and ears for dealings outside of Equestria,” Edris explained as Wart Hawk’s eyes were fixed onto the Princess.

“And do me eyes deceive me, or did ye bring Princess Twilight into all of this?” Wart Hawk asked as he picked up Twilight’s hoof for a gentle kiss. Twilight couldn’t help but gag at the foul odor Wart Hawk emitted as she yanked her hoof away from his filthy lips. Wart Hawk scoffed at the princess’s rejection and sat to Darth Edris’ left.

“As a matter of fact, yes. I have brought Twilight here for a very important reason,” Darth Edris said as the foul pig nodded at Edris’ claim.

“Ah, yes. Yer beloved ‘Checkmate’. How much longer does yer crew have t’ wait before that time comes?” Wart Hawk asked as the hippogriff acolyte, Mercia, returned with a suitable assassin.

“Not very long,” Edris informed as she and Twight turned to face the assassin. He had the appearance of a fox with a slender build, silver fur, fiery yellow eyes, navy purple hair tied up into a knot, a pitch-black cloak, and a sentient crimson scorpion tail sticking out of the back.

“I live to serve you, my lord,” The assassin bowed as his tail let out a sinister cackle, much to Twilight’s discomfort.

“Your name, please?” Edris asked as Twilight hid behind Darth Edris like prey.

“Tailgrave’s the name. You asked for only the best assassins, did you not?” Tailgrave asked as Edris stared down at the fox judgingly. Tailgrave then moved around the table to sit next to Wart Hawk.

“I did. But I have a very particular case for you two,” Darth Edris explained as Wart Hawk and Tailgrave’s ears perked up like beasts to a dinner bell. Darth Edris’ council of five sat at the meeting table waiting for Darth Edris to brief the mission.

“For three thousand years, have I waited for the perfect moment, for the right moves to make to perform my checkmate. And now that time has come,” Edris explained as Twilight could only guess where this was even going. But by the looks on everyone else’s faces, they seem to already know what Edris has been planning. And it will only be a matter of time before she learned as well, so the best she could do was pay attention. And as Darth Edris’ horn lit up, emitting a purple fog forming a crystal ball, Twilight was shocked by what she saw. She saw the same vision Edris had shown Twilight earlier, of Fluttershy and Starswirl the Bearded in Canterlot.

“Mercia, Talegrave, and Wart Hawk. I want you to take some Silencers and lure Fluttershy out to the deserts. Eliminate any companions she may bring. But bring her to me alive,” Darth Edris relayed as the two Sith Assassins bowed before their masters' wishes while the vile pirate saluted in response.

“And what about me?” Twilight asked as Edris and her fellow council members turned to Twilight.

“You have a very important part to play, your highness. We need you as the bait to lure your friend out here,” Edris explained as Twilight believes she had finally figured it all out.

“I knew it! You don’t actually see me as an important piece of this puzzle. I’m just a hostage forced to play the part of a simple pawn in this deadly game of yours!” Twilight declared while Edris sighed in annoyance.

“Well, in actuality, your highness, you’re more of a queen piece than a simple pawn. Pawns are expendable. Edris sees you as more important than that,” King Mercia commented as Twilight referred back to the crystal ball, still showing Fluttershy.

“Then why is she after Fluttershy? If I’m so important to Edris’ plan, then she would have already won by simply having me here,” Twilight commented, remembering all the times every threat that has faced Equestria has fought through her friends to get to her. It can’t be as simple as the normal scenario being the other way around, if she could even call “Saving Equestria countless times” normal, that was.

“I’ll give you this, Twilight, you are right. She is important to my plans. Without Fluttershy, I cannot have myself an apprentice to rule alongside. And as long as she trains herself as a Jedi rather than my apprentice, then she is the enemy. And as long as she is my enemy, she is yours as well,” Darth Edris said, summoning her chessboard showing Twilight the progress she has made in her plans. Twilight picked up the black queen piece and noticed it resembled her and realized that Fluttershy is in the form of the white king piece.

“You’re not using me as a hostage, are you? You’re gonna use me…to fight one of my best friends?” Twilight said, with a single tear running down her cheek.

“Fluttershy is no longer your friend, Twilight. If she still was, she would have told you everything she has learned,” Edris argued as Twilight thought over the Sith Lord’s words. She had to admit that Darth Edris did have a point. If Fluttershy was more honest and revealed what she had discovered, Twilight would have been more than happy to help her. Everypony would have been more than happy to help her. Why didn’t she say anything about this? Why did she lie?

“Well, your highness? What say you?” Tailgrave asked as Twilight looked back at the board and felt frustration, and then anger at her best friend’s deception.

“I want answers. From Fluttershy about this whole thing. She has a lot of explaining to do about all this,” Twilight said as Edris nodded encouragingly.

“Then come with me, your highness. We have work to do,” Darth Edris said as she led Twilight and the assassins out of the council’s conference room and out of the hidden dark side temple. Twilight couldn’t believe any of it. She was turning her back on her closest friend.

“No,” Twilight thought to herself. “She turned her back on me!”